christmas is nearly here

hi everyone its nearly Christmas being here it doesn't feel like Christmas and i just can't get in to the spirit of Christmas it is probably because we are used to the cold weather and here it is 33 today we went shopping for our Christmas food I'm not used to it being just us on Christmas day as we always went to my mum and dad for dinner and this year I'm doing the cooking when i cook for the kids and its not burnt they often ask if its cooked so you can imagine what Christmas dinner is going to be like i think we will have a BBQ and i will let Greg do all the cooking as BBQ are a mans thing .

today i woke up with a bad back so I've been on pain killers and lots of water all day i just hoping it better tomorrow i don't fancy spending Christmas day in hospital . for those who suffer from back pain if you get dehydrated that can effect your back .

callum got a Christmas card today from one of his friends in the UK this made him want to go back home but I've been having the same feelings over the past few weeks i don't like feeling unsettled and at the moment we are renting a house and come march the 25Th we might be moving on and its the thought of packing again and finding a new place to live i just want my own house at the moment we don't know if Adelaide is right for us and we have been looking at moving to Sydney in the future . anyway i've got to go its bedtime speak to you all soon
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

10 days till christmas

hi everyone last week was the last week for the kids at school for 6 weeks the only good thing about this is i don't have to get up early to take them to school i think that schools have to many holidays you are probably thinking 6 weeks but yes in Australia there summer holidays are over Christmas . we went to our first Ozzy Christmas party this weekend with the kids it was no fun because i don't drink and i was in a house full of drunk people i felt sorry for Greg because he was driving and could not drink, i met a few nice people and some that like to drink and drive the police would have had a field day. yesterday we gave the kids one of there Christmas present it is a trampoline ever since i put it up they have been outside the reason we gave it to them was so they burn off all there energy and to keep them from under my feet for the next 6 weeks i have also started helping them with there school work because the education here is differant here than in the uk so the kids are behind with reading and maths so i have 6 weeks to get them up to speed its going to be hard but i think we will get there i will keep you up to speed got to go now . merry christmas and a happy new year it would be nice to see how many people follow my blog so could everyone that reads it leave a christmas message good bye
hi marie+ philip are you ok? are you all set for christmas
hi pauline how are you ? merry christmas give our best wishes to the family i have sent out christmas cards but today i found some that i forgot to post with the rest of the cards so i will post them tomorrow but you might not get them until after christmas

sorry I've not posted anything for a few weeks but nothing much has happened the kids are still doing my head in i know they are still settling in but they are such hard work more so callum i think he has become the bratty teenager abit early he is going through the everybody hates me phase he had a bad day today because its Caitlin's birthday tomorrow he wanted games for his DS because everybody gets toys and he does not but little did he know we went out a got him a PlayStation 3 and a 17" tv to help him settle in because he had to leave his xbox 360 and wii back in the UK until we can get it shipped over i know you are probably thinking that we are stupid and Christmas is only a few weeks away but its a good think because it keeps him and Greg form under my feet because Greg is just like the kids for doing my head in .

about three weeks ago Greg got me a car as i told you in my last post anyway i had to go and change my licence over to a south Australian learners permit all the info on the transport website says you can change your licence over if you are from certain country's and the UK was one of them on the list but nothing in Australia is simple i spoke to someone on the phone at the licensing centre and i was told that could get my full licence in 6 months because in the UK i had my provisional since 1997 and i got up to doing my test before i got pregnant with callum so with that i took my paper work in to the office thinking that it would be simple they would change it over and that would be that but that was not the case i had to wait for 30 Min's then i was seen by a woman that had never seen a UK provisional before so she had to show 3 other people before telling me that it was none transferable and i had to start from the beginning again but ever that is not as easy as sighing a form like to UK she wanted me to sit a test so i had to buy the highway code book from her and a week later i went back and another 30 Min's and 4 people later i got to sit my test i went to do it without telling anyone not even Greg just in case i failed it so i got took in to a room and sat in front of a computer Connor was with me he had just woke up so he spent the whole time screaming and throwing thing i dread to think what thought of me but even with that i still pasted my test so now i have to do 50 hours of driving and another test just to get my provisional 1 then i have to do another test to get my provisional 2 and in two-three years time i will get my full licence so if anyone is thinking of coming to oz pass your test before you come or bring proof of how many hours driving you have done from you driving instructor .

greg took me out for my first lesson last week on a car park he wont take me on a road he had me driving up and down up and down stop start i ended up giving up after 25 mins he was starting to shout at me it didnt help having connor and caitlin in the car and every time i stoped they took there belts off and wanted to get out the car and go the park and since then he has not offered to take me out again and to top it off he has offered to pay for my 50 hours driving do you thik he trying to tell me something .

i forgot to tell you connor has started to sleep in his own bed this week for the first time in 3 years he has done it for a full week and we are now trying to get him out of nappies but its like pulling teeth trying to get the nappies off him because he wont wear underpants he hates them and screams the place down if there is a potty of some underpants in the room because the first week we moved into this house Connor found a white tip spider in his potty so he wont go near it now so i had to go out and buy him a wiggles toilet seat up to now he has used it 5 times and that was only because i ran out of nappies so i keep my fingers crossed that he will be out of them by Christmas anyway got to go now if i don't write anymore before Christmas MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

hi Philip and Marie sorry Ive not got round to replying to your email how did your weekend go
hi Pauline how r you how is rach and baby
hi Gerry got your email this year Ive made a DVD for you all so that will be sent out this week
i will be sending you all some Christmas cards and DVD that i made myself of the Golden's in oz I'm hoping you will get it before Christmas anyway bye for now

sorry Ive not posted anything for a few weeks but we've had trouble with the Internet because when we arrived in Australia we signed up with a company called telstra for the phone Internet and foxtell and ever since we have hat nothing but trouble with them over the Internet package we have had 3 bills in the since the 25th Sept bill 1 $39.99 bill 2 $127.00 and bill 3 $1014.00 and here they pay there bills every month so Greg has been in to the shop a few times to try and sort it out and every time he is told that the bill has been wiped clean but it still shows on the Internet that we owe it I'm shore that we will sort it out soon also we are not the only people to have this problem so if anyone is thinking of coming to Australia shop around.

this week we have had a few bad days both with the family and the weather on Saturday the day started off good we were going to have a nice day out looking for my Christmas present i will tell you about this in a minute anyway we were all set to go out i was getting the kids ready and next thing we hared a bang i looked up and looked at the TV and there was a big crack in the screen with it being a LCD TV it looked like it was a cartoon crack as we were watching cartoons at the time but it was the TV that was cracked so you can imagine what happened next it turns out that callum , Caitlin and Megan were stood in front of the TV and Connor asked them to move and they wouldn't so threw the remote at callum at this point callum moved and it hit the TV so that was a $1000 TV down the drain so we had to go out and buy another $1000 TV at this point i didn't want to get another TV i sat and cryed and i could quite easily got on the plane back home so none of them got any treats that day.

MY CHRISTMAS PRESENT
after the TV incident and i stopped crying we went and got the TV and then we went and got my present you will never guess what Greg got me ?

he got me a new ford fiesta its coming tomorrow you are probably thinking i didn't now that she could drive the answer is i Can't so that's my next job to learn to drive the only thing is Greg is teaching me you can imagine what my first lesson is going to be like he will probably give me one lesson and not want to give me anymore so wee will see i will keep you up dated with my progress .
christmas feels funny here we are not used to having sun at christmas alot of people here have got there christmas decorations up already back home we only put ours up a few days before because they didnt last very long in our house by boxing day there would be nothing left of the tree anyway ive go on for long enough goodbye
hi marie and philip how r thing i hope philip is feeling better tell him we are thinking of him say happy birthday to vincent for us
hi pauline how r you rachel and baby? tell chris hello

a few pictures for the family

and here is greg with his new toy 



hi mum here is the pictures you asked for this is my house

FIRST BBQ

hi again as i said in my last post callum was going to his friends house on Friday he went and he really enjoyed himself on the Friday i had to go to school to pick Megan up so i waited until callums class came out just to make sure callum was still going and to pick his bag up he came out of class with his friend and he looked so grown up him and a few of his friends stood all together i don't really think he wanted me there showing him up but i suppose it could have been worse i could have kissed in front of his friends.
we also got our first BBQ and table and chairs i spent 2 hours yesterday putting the BBQ together nothing is simple in Australia everything comes flat packed and once id put it together it was a nice night so we decided to have a BBQ just me Greg and kids so Greg went shopping on his way home for the food the BBQ. the one we got is a gas BBQ so when we got it we got a gas cylinder as well so anyway we connected the gas cylinder to the BBQ and tried to turn it on and it didn't work so we tried everything to get it to work but it just wouldn't work it was a good job it was just us and not a house full so Greg ended up cooking the food inside so today we went back to the shop we got it from and asked about the gas cylinder it turns out you pay Kmart $40 for a empty gas cylinder and then you have to take it to petrel station and pay another $30 to get it filled so tonight we had our FIRST BBQ apart from Greg burning everything it was fine . this afternoon we also went to Megan's friend birthday party we thought we could drop her off and then pick her up later but that wasn't the case they invited us all to stay Ive never been so bored in my life but it was good for the kids all that junk food and fizzy pop and at the end when they gave out the party bags full of sweets i understand now why they got a bouncy castle there was about 12 manic kids running around and 4 of them were ours so you can imagine whet the journey home was like and to top it off i ended up with about 15 mozzie bites so I'm in pain at the moment i think that's all for now i will add some more soon . HELLO PHILIP AND MARIE HOW ARE YOU COULD YOU FIND OUT IF SUZANNE GOT THE GIFT WE SEND BECAUSE IF NOT I WILL HAVE TO CONTACT INTER FLORA TO FIND OUT WERE IT IS THANKS AND HOW IS LITTLE VINCENT DOING

HI PAULINE HOW ARE YOU ?
AND HOW IS RACH AND BABY DOING

thursday 30th oct

hi again sorry I've not wrote anything this week but I've not done much callum has been invited to his friends house tomorrow after school and this is all he has talked about all week I've never seen him so happy with school as he is here. Megan has got her first party invite that is on Sunday today has been very hot i felt sorry for the kids walking home today in the heat i was going to take them home on the bus but because Caitlin was throwing a tantrum and we missed the bus and we would off had to wait another 20/30 Min's for another bus so we decided to walk its days like this i wish i could drive. the credit crunch is just starting here and house prices are starting to fall so we are holding off buying a house for a bit so that we can get a bit more for our money . anyone thinking of moving to Adelaide its not as cheap as people say it is but it is still cheaper they the UK on some things food is not cheap here before we came here we read alot about Adelaide in different books and in the books Adelaide was the perfect place to live but there is more to Adelaide than people think it has just a much bad parts as good parts don't get me wrong its a beautiful place to live but we are finding it hard to find houses in the good areas

friday

yesterday we went into the Adelaide hill to gorge wild life park again we took Caitlin and Connor because we went when the others were at school it was a nice day out it was hot it was a shame Connor got bit by mosquitoes about 8 times we stayed at the wildlife park for about a hour then we was on our way back and we bumped into Helen and tony having a pub lunch so we joined them and had a meal today Saturday has been to hot to go out so Ive been stuck in with 4 manic children so you can imagine how i feel now Ive just put the girls to bed and I'm sat watching toy story the film got to go now i will add some more when i do something interesting . hi Marie and Philip how did the wedding go could you email me Suzanne's address so that we can send them something . hi Pauline how are you how is rach and the baby doing is rach enjoying motherhood

kids started school

this week has been a busy week for all of us the kids started there new school it upset me on there first day i have got used to having them around for the the past 3 months i was a bit worried about callum because he is such a sensitive child the first two days we had a bit of a hick up with callum but by the end of the week he has made 3 friends and he was enjoying school but Megan on the other hand we have had a few problems with for the past 3 months she has been looking forward to starting her new school but when the day came i we had tears i had to leave her with her head in her hands i just wanted to pick her up and take her back home with me she looked so tiny but after that was fine for the rest of the week she made some friends too the schools are a bit different her than in the UK when a child first starts they are given a buddy to look after them and show them around i think is a great idea i think this has helped callum to make friends in Australia the seem to be very friendly we had a few problems with Megan last Monday because she had been off for the weekend she didn't want to go to school but it doesn't help when we have to walk a mile each way to school i have to do this 3 times a Day that is 6 miles a Day in the hot weather pushing a pram but the way i look at it its exercise and hopefully this time next year i will be 5 stone lighter .

big week

hi sorry I've not added anything for a few days  but it's been a big week for us  Greg started work last Tuesday  at first  he didn't like  it but that was the first day but as the week has gone on he got to know more people and more about the job and now i think he feels more settled.

 with Greg going to work I've been at home with the kids  you would think id be used  to it  by now but Greg has been off work for 6 weeks  i forgot how hard it was  Tuesday we had to wait in for radio rentals to come and pick some chairs plus it was raining  that was a nightmare  being stuck in the house with 4 screaming  kids running around the house that has polished floor boards  in every room that was a very noisy day

Wednesday i had to wait in for foxtel this is the same as sky+ in the UK  it's the same price as the UK but it's not as good it has half the channels thankfully Helen Greg's long lost relative she has been very good top us since we came to Australia anyway she took Caitlin and Connor out  for the day to her friends house to play with her children  so i only had callum and Megan to deal with they both followed the foxtel man around the house to see what he was doing they couldn't wait until he had finished so that they could watch there cartoons 

Thursday we went for a walk in to semaphore to the park it was a very warm day we had our dinner at the cafe just in front of the park and the beach i will add a picture at a later date 

Friday i took the kids for a walk  to the shops in semaphore to buy some buckets and spades for the beach it was a nice day out we went to subway and got some sandwiches and we sat at the picnic benches  near the beach there were lots of people out today because it was a really hot day it was that hot i took the kids and we sat under the jetty in the shade  and made sand castles .

Saturday  today Greg was off so we went for a day trip to victor harbor it was a very hot day and for those that don't know how far we are from victor harbor it took 2 hours to get to it but it was worth it we took some great pictures take a look

hi Pauline to answer your question there is nothing wrong with copper pipes but what the picture doesn't show is that the shower is not straight it bends to much to the right so water gos everywhere. today has been a very cold and windy day so we haven't done much we went looking at houses in golden grove we saw a house in a perfect location the school was across the road it was safe for the kids to play out the only problem was the house was to small. tomorrow is a big day for us Greg starts work and it will be the first time i would have been alone with the kids since we have been here as i can't drive i will have to think of something to it is supposed to cold again tomorrow i think we will end up staying in making play dough what fun that will be

pictures of our house

what a great shower it is made of copper pipe

i would just like to say hi to Marie+Philip and Pauline hope you are all well

today the weather is bad wet and cold but it is only 9am I'm hoping it is going to get better i will let you know tomorrow if it did. yesterday we had a meeting at the bank so we had to go into the city you can imagine what it was like taking 4 kids to the bank by the time we left the two staff at the bank wanted to keep the kids because they all decided to clean there office with baby wipes. i don't know what it is with my kids but every time they get in the car all they can do is fight from the minute they get in until the minute they get out anyway I've been asked to put some pictures of our house on the blog so here they are

more spiders

spiders are a bit of a problem in our corner of Australia, this was caught this morning, thanks to a dolmio jar, still more to get, connor found one in his potty yesterday morning, they are starting to give me the friggin' creeps. Photo enclosed. We have decided our current address will not be our permanent place of residence

Any psychi nurses thinking off moving here will be pleased to know that HSBC deem the job to dangerous and won't give you life assurance (with the suicide package).

Aussie drivers do you want sauce for that big chip on your shoulder. Chill out.

Weather's been great for last couple of days, god know's what it will be like in summer.

today was another busy day we had the estate agent at the house because we couldn't find the gas meter and it turns out that our gas supply is two big gas bottles at the side of the house.

this is a red back in its web

none of the estate agents seem to know alot about this house i don't think any of them have actually been in side this house all around the outside of this house is full of webs back in the UK you are probably thinking how is this a problem but the webs are red back spider webs since we moved in we have not seen any red backs the problem is we don't know if they have been sprayed or not so we are waiting for this to be

done. the kids are doing my head in they have got nothing to do so they are running around the house so we took them shopping we spent 3 hours in a toy shop and we ended up with 2 trolleys full of toys and Greg got a toy to anyone that knows Greg knows he loves his hoovers he has lasted two weeks without one that is good for Greg . the thing about Australia there is not enough hours in the day to do everything every time we go to the shopping centres we never seem to get out home before 5 by then the sun is starting to set.

tonight it was great to see the kids playing with each other instead of fighting i really think the toy were worth the money to see that.

aussie drivers

i think that aussie drivers think that mad max was real, their driving attitude is something to be seen, they sooner see you plough into a parked car or let you keep waiting forever before giving way, in fact giving way doesn't even register as a thought, ignorant gets, anyway, alex, email me, completed my first beach jog yesterday

adelaide zoo

today we took the kids to Adelaide zoo something funny happened when we went to pay to get in because we have 4 kids we got a family ticket but i got in free because i have red hair I've never heard of this before but we saved $10 so Greg was happy it was not as good as the books make it out to be.

our new home

this is one for the family if you click on the pictures you will get full size pictures

this week we have moved in to our new home after two weeks of hell in caravans and motel rooms the house is not what i would like to live in long term but its OK for the next 6 months this week has been busy i have spent the last two day putting together flat pack furniture but Greg has been good by taking the kids to the park why i get it done and i still have more to do.

we are staying in semaphore south it is a nice place we are one street away from the beach and the parks we are in walking distance from the shops and the schools and a short car ride to the shopping centres here is a few pictures of the beach

day 6

this is the new member of the golden family

today we went to gorge wildlife park kids enjoyed feeding with all the animals it was great to have a morning off from to relax because since we got here all we have done is to run around trying to sort all the paperwork out its not been much fu for the kids

day 4

seen or first red back and been to first barbie, weather has been hit and miss, still sunny though. Not easy trying to find accomodation, very complicated, spent 2 days driving around, thank god for sat nav, can't say whether we are enjoying it at moment due to the pressures of trying to get established, new family are being supportive and met up with an ole' ashworth man who has been helpful, adelaide is a nice place, quite spread out, once we find a house we will feel better.

the singapore sling

this is greg in singapore doing what he does best

these are a few pictures of the view from the 17th floor of the copthorne kings hotel in singapore

day one

Greg's first entry, finally here day one, after 2 yrs of planning/ arguing and 2nd thoughts, for those about to embark on the same journey (this one is for you al), the enormity of the situation hits you like a sledgehammer, it started at the all you eat asian buffet at the hotel restaurant in singapore yesterday, for those who know me know this is a nice place for me to be, but when offered delights such as pigs stomach soup i went away eating only a few beansprouts and boiled rice this was followed by the undercook chicken burger at the burger king at changi airport only to be let down by a tray of what could be only described as *~@*# (censored due to the rele's reading this blog) on the plane, all of this is probably of no particular significance to the untrained eye, but to those who know me it set me up for a very bad hair day. As i am writing this i feel better now but a couple of hours of ago i was definately comtemplating what the hell have i done and when is the next plane back. Met a relative for the first time today, helen (3rd cousin) and tony, great people who pulled out the stops to make sure we were okay on arrival, but as we were driving to our first port of call (a shoe box for a caravan overlooking a stunning beach) the panic set in and so did the doubts (jet lag did not help), at this moment in time we are of no fixed abode and where we start i have no #*^#~@~ idea, think about being dropped in liverpool for the first time and then someone saying, go and find a house, that was when the panic set in and for a minute i dropped the insensitive, first through the door (those at ashworth will know what i mean) image, anyway i am back to being me now, bread is a rip off, the adventure continues.

Lakey, still not finished the book.

hi everyone we are the golden family and in a weeks time we are off to start our new life in oz.

Sunday 31st august today has been a hard day for us we went for Christmas dinner with my family i know you probably think I'm mad but it will be the last time i will spend Christmas day with my family what made it worse was that it may be the last time i will see my nan this is what upset me the most because i will see my mum and dad 3 times a year .

Monday Greg took the kids to a play area so that i could start packing i didn't realise that we had so many clothes i don't want to go now I'm on abit of a downer at the thought of leaving everyone behind

Tuesday all this packing is doing my head in the kids started back to school I've been waiting for this day for 6 weeks i think they have to many holidays. Connor went to nursery for the first time me, Greg and Caitlin went to, it was nice to see him playing nice because when he's at home all he wants to play is power ranger and boxing so you can imagine the fun we have in our house.

Wednesday more packing

Thursday we went into widnes today to sort out the house sale Greg's auntie Marie and uncle Phillip came to see us today they are two of the nicest people you could ever meet we are going to really miss them loads

Friday today we went to say goodbye to my auntie gill . i still regret not having a party so that we could say goodbye to everyone a once. it was the last day for the kids at school i don't really think they understand what is really going on at the end of the day they are still only babies i just hope they settle in to there new life OK this is one of the thing that worries me about the move because when callum worries he starts to sleep walk .